Poetry for St. Brigid’s Day

I understand that there are a lot of poems going out into cyberspace in honour of St. Brigid’s Day.  Here’s where to look for an invitation.

And here’s my contribution, a poem I wrote a few years ago in a creative writing class.  The teacher didn’t particularly like it, but I did and so did many of my classmates.

Nantucket, Nantucket,

We went to you for memories sake

You did not disappoint us

The boat, the spray, the mist,

The emerging outline on the horizon

Summer island of our youth 

We walked your cobbled streets

Absorbed your red bricks and your gray shingled cottages

The air of former whaling days

Of widows looking out to sea

Watching for sea-faring husbands never to return 

Your sandy beaches, playgrounds for the summer visitors

We were young and carefree, only there to play

Maybe work to earn our keep

But that was quite light-hearted 

Waiting table, washing dishes

Cycling to the beach

Midnight swims

Dancing at the Upper Deck

Flirting with the fellows 

And yet behind it all lay the ghost of Moby Dick

And all that made Nantucket famous

In former days of sail and ambergris 

The beloved grey lady of the sea